Is This The End?
by Where'sThePie
Summary: The world went to hell pretty damn fast, so I was just thankful in the sense that I ended up with two hunters and an angel in a trench coat. Maybe we can somehow figure out a way to survive in a world crawling with croat's, and crazy machete wielding survivors? Oh, and of course finding a way to stop the devil too. (Possibly a M rating due to language and gore in certain chapters.)
1. Chapter 1

_**Please let me know if you want me to continue with this. I have a weird obsession with end!verse stories, so I decided to write my own. Please leave feedback or else I won't post a second chapter, thanks!**_

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><p>If I knew then what I know now... Would I have changed anything? With all the... The weird crazy crap that goes on in the world that literally no one knew about, would I do things differently?<p>

In short, the answer would probably be hell yes. Hell yes I would go back and do all of that differently. I would have just kept on driving, ignored that lump of something laying on the side of the road and just... Kept on driving, minding my own damn business.

How, I asked myself over and over again, how did I make it to twenty six years old and then something like _this _happens?

I was an overly cautious individual, never taking any risks with anything. You want fries with that? Hell no I don't want fries with that because you know... Cholesterol? Duh... Basically, in short... I was boring. Boring boring boring. Maybe a little obsessive compulsive, maybe a little anti social, whatever... I had my issues I guess; which was why it was all the more strange that I actually took a chance that night and then got myself into this big hunk of steaming crap that is now my life.

And now, look at me... Running through a forest after dark, frantically trying not to get my ass killed, tripping and twisting my ankles like those stupid girls in horror movies. Yep, that was me. I was just waiting for my blouse to get ripped because ya know... I was just that pathetic.

Really, a year ago I should've just kept on driving... But that's me, Alice Elwood, the stupidest woman alive.

The night was bad to begin with, I remember exactly. You see, I'm not the most likeable person in the world. I'm extremely immature for my age, probably due to isolating myself and barely crawling out of my apartment, and since I'm just awkward and weird people automatically assume I'm rude. But, anyhow, it was a bad night. I work at one of those sterotypical coffee shops that you always see girls in movies working in. Except their experience usually ended up with meeting some gorgeous guy, falling in love and running off together into the sunset. For me, yeah... Not so much. I hated my job, and only took it because I needed money to live and it was the only place within a one hundred mile radius it seemed that was actually hiring.

But like I said a million times already... Bad night, I was having a bad night. A toddler decided to projectile vomit all over me, a woman practically threw her cup of coffee in my face because I added a pinch too much cinnamon, and my boss had serious issues with "accidentally" brushing his hand up against your butt. Really I would have clobbered the guy, but... You kinda need money to make rent and buy food, so... I was stuck.

And to think that when I woke up that morning I was actually in a good mood and had a positive outlook for once. That didn't happen often with me. I grew up in foster care, tossed around from one family to the next until I was eighteen, then after that I was on my own. Things hadn't been easy ever since then, having one crap job after another, being thrown out of a good dozen apartments. So really, I shouldn't have been all that surprised at the bad luck that was going to slap me in the face that night. Really, I should have expected it.

Or, well... I guess it would be kind of difficult to expect something like _that_, because it just seemed way too far fetched and crazy.

Okay yeah I'm getting side tracked, gotta get on with the story. So... That night after cleaning and locking up the coffee shop, I made a beeline for my junky old Honda to escape the cold pelts of rain that was falling on me. The car was a piece of crap, what can I say, but I was just thankful to actually own one now. I bought it for four hundred bucks a couple months prior, and it saved me from having to walk the five miles back and forth from work to my apartment. It made grocery shopping and running errands a helluva lot more easy too.

So should I get the whole "what do I look like" spiel over and done with? Might as well. I wasn't what you would call conventionally pretty, exactly. I had good traits and bad traits I thought. Not too thin, not too thick, pretty much average when it came to that I guess. Short dark hair that I'd recently hacked off into a simple pixie because I just hated anything that had to do with grooming. Green eyes, freckles and a permanent bitch scowl finishes off my description I guess. My ensemble never strayed far from jeans, a t-shirt and a hoodie. I'd actually been mistaken as a teenage boy a few times, but that was okay by me. I could be androgynous, that's cool.

But anyways, there I was, a seemingly good looking gal late at night, struggling with my crappy car and getting the door unlocked which incidentally, by the time I got the damn door unlocked I almost peed myself. I didn't like the dark, and I certainly didn't like being alone in it unable to seek sanctuary and safety in my car.

Once inside I was quick to lock the doors again, letting out a few deep breaths from managing to make it from the coffee shop and to the car without being kidnapped or attacked. Not that I would have been attacked. This town was pretty damn quiet on most days. Clover Hill Kansas was hardly Chicago or L.A. It was just a little out of the way town, a good two hours from Lawrence, who's only redeeming quality was festival season when tourists would flood the streets.

Let me just get out of the way before I continue on, that if you're expecting some romance story where the girl falls head over heels for some dreamy guy to the point she practically throws herself on him... Turn around right now and walk away, just walk away; because you're definitely not going to be getting that with this one.

Not that I'm against romance, no certainly not. If that's your thing, go for it. But I've read way too many books, or seen way too many movies where a girl falls for some guy (or who she thinks is a guy but ends up being something else) and then just becomes obsessed and crazy to the point she couldn't live without him. I liked to think that I had a little more sense then that.

So let's check that off the list. Romance? Nope, not gonna happen my friend. But the one thing I always was on occasion, was completely wrong, so...

And here we go, back to the story. I tried to decide if I wanted take out before I drove back to my apartment, because let's face facts here... The most I knew how to cook was top ramen and opening a package of crackers was considered a side dish. So some Chinese or a pizza might have been a decent meal right about then. Halfway down the street however, I remembered just exactly how much I _hated _going into both of those places. Because you see, I don't do well with speaking to people. I'm awkward, like I stated earlier. I'm awkward and weird and would generally make an ass out of myself without even trying. Because of that, I would freak myself out to the point of turning around and heading home, instead of actually, oh ya know... Purchasing sustenance. Really, it was a wonder I hadn't been fired from my job because of my poor social skills.

So, to spare myself that humiliation I decided it was going to be another night of top ramen and stale crackers. Little did I know I wasn't even going to get _that_.

My apartment wasn't even in this town exactly, but a little suburb just a few miles out. So to make good time and to avoid any traffic on the highway I usually stuck to the back country roads, which were long and windy, but nearly devoid of life whatsoever. It made getting home before my favorite TV shows came on completely possible.

I ignored how dangerous they might have been after dark, and just how much more dangerous they were when it was raining. Hell, if I could avoid traffic it was worth the risk in my opinion, but that didn't mean I drove like a maniac. Remember, I said I was boring, so no excitement in my life at all, right?

Halfway down those winding roads I flicked on the radio, belting out obnoxiously to some random song that was blasting, all the while trying to ignore that tell tale sign that something was iffy.

You hear people talking about a "feeling". You know, like pinpricks on the back of your neck, that runs down your spine? Something that was always the definitive proof that something downright awful was about to happen.

For me, a feeling like that wasn't so unusual. Being paranoid and anti social already, I was kinda used to ignoring that feeling; but that night it was particularly persistent. To the point that I actually struggled to remember if I had checked the backseat of my car for some creepy stalker or axe murderer. Still, I tried to ignore it by cranking up the radio some more, while struggling to see past all the rain and fog and not crash to a fiery death on the winding road.

That's when it all started... At first it was just a bright flash of light, kind of obnoxiously bright now that I think about it. And it was definitely enough to get my attention. It happened just over the forest I was currently driving through and for a second I wondered if a plane had exploded or crashed or something. It was weird seeing anything on this road except deer and roadkill, so that bright light which brought on a crack and boom that was enough to actually rattle my car as I drove was definitely alarming.

For a second I contemplated pulling over so I could get my bearings back, but no way in hell was I gonna stay out here any longer than I had to. So... I pressed on the gas, ignoring my screaming thoughts and the visions of a fiery death, and squalled tires as I tried to get the frick away.

I don't know what I was expecting, a plane crash, a UFO landing, a nuclear explosion, I had no damn idea... But I was freaked out enough that I wasn't gonna stick around to find out. And as I rounded a sharp turn I noticed instantly a crumpled heap of something laying on the side of the road just about to roll down into the ditch.

Nope, I shook it off. Definitely didn't see a body laying there. No way... Not a body...

I kept driving, only now my foot was easing off the gas as I kept checking my rear view mirror and the lump was growing smaller and smaller in the distance.

"Crap," I said, slamming on the breaks and screeching to a halt.

My eyes were still fixed on the lump in the rear view mirror, which was only visible now by the faint glow of my tail lights. The rain definitely didn't help decipher whether or not what I was looking at could have actually been a body, until that lump of something moved.

"Oh, shit!" I spat, throwing the car in drive and nearly slamming on the accelerator again.

Whatever it was, be it a deer or a person, seemed to crawl its way from the road some before thumping back to the ground and going still again.

Ugh, this was bad. I've seen way too many movies where a poor innocent girl stops to help someone that's hurt or stranded and what was the end result? She gets kidnapped, or strangled in her backseat, or something even worse than that and I'd be damned if I let that happen to myself. But... I couldn't exactly let whoever that was lay there in the rain, especially if they were seriously hurt. Which... By the looks of how still they were, was probably the case.

So against my better judgement, and ignoring the warning bells going off in my head, I put the car in reverse and slowly backed my way closer until coming to a stop beside whatever it was.

Instead of getting out and putting myself right in the open for someone to snatch me, I crawled over to the passenger window and rolled it down a few good inches, just enough to squish my face against it.

Now that I was actually there and could examine the lump, I saw now that it was definitely a person. A man, actually, and he was laying face towards the sky with the rain drenching him. I couldn't make out much details in the dark, but I could distinctly see a large blood stain on his shirt which was growing in size.

"Oh god," I shifted on the seat, reaching for my phone in the console and flipping it on.

It had zero signal what so ever which was so typical for a situation like this it wasn't even funny.

"Uh," I cleared my throat, smashing my face more against the window. "Hello, sir? Are you okay?"

Yes I know that was stupid, clearly the guy wasn't okay. He was bleeding from a gaping wound in his stomach and laying there stiff in the rain... It was safe to assume that okay was the farthest thing this guy was.

Naturally I got no response, not that I was surprised cause the guy was lookin' kinda like a doornail right now.

So, I did what I had told myself I would never do if I found myself in this situation... I got out of the car. I got out and rushed around to where he was laying, shifted back and forth anxiously before lightly nudging him with my foot.

"Yoohoo," I said, then nearly slapped myself afterwards. "Sir?"

"Umfhs," I got in reply, which nearly made me squeal and pee my pants in terror.

Guess that proved he was alive, so I knelt down and felt for a pulse even though I'd never done that before and was probably shoving my fingers on the wrong spot.

"Sir, can you wake up and talk to me?" I asked now, my nerves starting explode the more I realized I was potentially dealing with a dying man.

I was slightly surprised when his eyes parted open only slightly, and even in the dark I could see the bright blue.

"Where... Am I?" He croaked out.

"Yeah I don't think that's the question to be asked here," I replied. "You're hurt, can you tell me what happened?"

Instead of answering me however, he forced himself to sit up, somehow, despite the gaping wound in his stomach, as he tried to get a feel for his surroundings.

"How did I end up here?" He croaked out again. "This wasn't where I was supposed to be."

"Yeah I think your best bet would be a hospital, buddy-" I nodded, then reached down and hooked my arms under his. "Come on, I'll just drive you there."

Obviously his weird behavior was caused from blood loss, the dude was clearly delirious. And I had no idea how he wasn't dead by now. But, at least he didn't argue with me or try to fight me when I helped him to his feet and to my car.

After he'd fallen into the passenger seat, I slammed the door and rounded back to my seat, forgetting to put my seat belt on this time as I cranked the car in drive and sped back towards town.

Whoever this guy was, he was probably in his thirties, by the looks of him. Dark hair, blue eyes as I already said, black suit with a muddy and bloody trench coat over it. He was soaked from head to toe and shivering now, so I flicked on the heater.

"Stay awake over there, buddy," I added, reaching over and nudging him. "I don't know what to do for a bleeding wound, but... Pretty sure you're supposed to stay awake or you could go into shock."

Or at least that's what I always saw on TV?

He groaned at that, his head wobbling back and forth as he struggled to stay upright.

"Thank you," He swallowed. "For helping me."

"Yeah, no problem. So... Can I ask what the hell happened?"

"An altercation," He answered, sounding a tad more coherent. "I was ambushed."

"Shit, by who? Were you mugged? Or carjacked or something?"

He squinted at me, before shoving his coat and jacket aside to examine the wound.

"No... I wasn't mugged."

"Then how'd you end up out in the middle of no where hurt like that?"

He cringed after pressing his hand on the wound, which didn't seem to be bleeding so much anymore but still looked pretty damn painful.

"A mistake," His voice was getting stronger but still just as gravelly. "Let's just say I... Made the wrong turn."

Ah, a car crash then by the sounds of it. He probably swerved off the road and into a ditch, hitting a tree. It would explain why I didn't see his car. If someone had the misfortune of crashing out in those woods, their car would be completely swallowed up by trees and foliage.

He started to slump slightly, looking very much like he might pass out so I continued to nudge him.

"No, dude... Stay awake. No falling asleep." I said.

"Sleeping would actually help me," He grumbled back. "I'll heal faster."

"Uh," I snorted. "You're not gonna be healing anytime soon. Not til you get to a hospital and they fix you up anyways." He didn't seem to be listening or at least didn't care, so I kept talking. "So what's your name, huh? Tell me your name and where you're from?"

"Castiel," He answered, then rubbed his forehead. "My name's Castiel."

"Interesting name, what is that Italian?"

Yet again he squinted at me. "No... It's definitely not Italian."

"All right, well... Where are you from? You from Clover Hill?"

"No, I..." He sat up slightly. "Wait, what state am I currently in?"

I gaped at him after that, figuring that he obviously bumped his head along with ripping his stomach open.

"Kansas, Castiel... You're in Kansas."

He nodded, seeming relieved almost. "Ah... That's good then... I made good distance."

"Good distance?"

"An hour ago I was in Georgia... I honestly didn't believe the spell had worked, but... It did."

Okayyyy. Clearly this guy was one fry short of a Happy Meal.

"Well, happy traveling then," I replied nervously. "But, uh... We'll just get you to a hospital and-"

"No," He shook his head, cutting me off in mid sentence. "I appreciate you stopping to help me but I can assure you that a hospital is the last thing I need."

"Guy, you're bleeding... You're bleeding pretty badly, and you must've bumped your head and-"

"Believe me, a hospital wouldn't be able to help me. It's not even necessary, I'm perfectly capable of healing on my own."

Yeah this wasn't making me feel any better.

"Well we'll just get back into town and then make a decision okay?" I swallowed nervously. "Just try to relax."

But despite the blood seeping all over my front seat and the way his skin seemed to be paling, he was as relaxed as anyone I'd ever seen. His expression was pretty much blank, his eyes staring ahead at the winding roads, and for an almost dead guy his posture was pretty straight now. Seriously, I was a little freaked out.

It only got that much worse when suddenly out of the blackness there was another burst of light that illuminated the entire road and forest surrounding. It was so bright that I had to shield my eyes and slam on the breaks or else I'd swerve off and hit a tree of my own.

No sooner had the car screeched to a halt did Castiel grab my arm and before I could blink, he yanked me from behind the wheel slid under me and took my spot.

"Dude!" I shrieked.

He didn't say anything and instead slammed on the gas and yet again the car was swerving and flying down the road.

I smashed in the seat after that, struggling to control myself as we flew down another curve and then another and another before another flash of bright light burst from behind us.

"What's going on?!" I shouted. "What is that?!"

"Nothing good," Castiel replied. "Just stay calm and everything will be fine."

Turning, I struggled to see through the darkness out the back window but the light for the moment had died out.

"Don't," Castiel said now, reached over and forcefully pulling my face ahead. "Don't look at the light directly."

"W-What is it?" I stuttered. Yeah, great. This is what I get for being a good citizen and stopping to help someone. I was being kidnapped, we were running from a strange light apparently, and this psychopath wasn't offering any explanations to anything.

"Do you have a cell phone?" He asked, instead of answering my question. "Mine seems to have busted during the fall."

"Uh," I blabbered. "Yeah it's in the console but I'm not getting a signal out here."

"I suspected as much... The energies from the blasts are most likely knocking out the cell phone towers nearby."

"Of course they are," I replied sarcastically. "Naturally, yeah... That makes sense."

He shifted his eyes over to me over and over again before returning them to the road. "What's your name?" He asked me now. "You haven't told me."

"A-Alice," I stuttered again. "Are... Are you gonna kill me?"

Squinting, which was something he did a lot I noticed, he shook his head. "Of course not. As a matter of fact you're relatively fortunate that it was me you came across on the road back there, Alice. Had it been one of the others, well..." He trailed off, cinching his lips. "Will you check to see if your phone is in working order yet?"

Others... Who or _what _did he mean by others? Nope, no I didn't wanna know; so I just grabbed my phone and flicked it on noticing that there was one tiny little signal bar.

"Okay got reception," I said holding it up in front of him. "Should I call 911?"

He didn't answer and instead snatched the phone from my hand and started dialing. Seconds later I could hear it ring a few times before someone picked up.

"Dean," He said, and he actually seemed relieved. "I made it... I'm in Kansas, where are you?" There was mumbling that I couldn't make out from the other line, but Castiel nodded. "Yes, well... I'm afraid it's not as simple as that. I seem to have," He glanced to me. "I seemed to have picked up a passenger." The mumbling grew louder until it was obvious this Dean was yelling. "When I landed I was wounded and unconscious on the side of the road... A passerby stopped to assist me, so it's not as though I-" He stopped when Dean started shouting again. "Yes, I understand. I'll be there immediately."

And he hung up and tossed my phone back in the console, going silent as he continued to drive. I sat there in confusion, gaping at him because obviously I wanted some kind of explanation as to what was going on. I didn't know this nut case, he could have been anyone, and clearly he was abducting me and... And... This was just a really bad night!

"What's happening?" I asked. "Where are we going?"

"This is your lucky night, Alice. You're going to get to survive the blast." He replied. "Had you not stopped by to assist me tonight then you probably would die."

I sat back after that, trying not to puke all over my shoes.

Jesus Christ what the hell had I gotten myself in to?

"Um," I swallowed. "What do you mean by that?"

"Something very bad is about to happen within the next few hours, and because of it the... The world is... It's about to be destroyed."

What the hell had I gotten myself in to?! I repeated that last thought.

"Destroyed?" I huffed out. "The entire world?"

"Yes." He answered bluntly.

"And, uh... How exactly is that gonna happen?"

His lips cinched again as he kept checking the rear view mirror. "I suppose it won't do any harm to tell you now. Especially since within the next few hours the world will be destroyed, so... Lucifer, he was released from his cage and because of it he's decided he wants to take his aggression out on humanity. He's acquired several special crystals, very powerful weapons if used in the correct manner, and once he's combined them everything will be reduced to the dark ages-" He glanced at me with his expression perfectly calm. "You can think of it as the apocalypse if you want."

"The apocalypse?" I repeated, my face falling blank. "Lucifer as in... The devil... He's got some special crystals that's gonna destroy the planet?" He nodded in answer. "Dude, what the hell have you been smoking?"

He scowled in my direction. "You don't believe me. That's fine, you will by the end of the night."

"Okay," I huffed. "So he's gonna destroy the world with these crystals, so... What exactly does that mean?"

"The crystals are just for taking out anything that might be able to stop him. The government for instance. In truth it's not even the crystals that you should be afraid of but the Croatoan virus that's quickly spreading across the country."

"Croa... Croatoan virus?" I shook my head. "What the hell is that?"

"Something very horrible and deadly."

My mind drifted off to a couple news broadcasts I'd seen over the last couple of days. There was some kind of weird virus that had started in Georgia, and the CDC was going on and on about how no one should panic that it was all under control. But I overheard someone chatting at the coffee shop about how that was all a lie, and everyone that had contracted the disease was actually put down because they just couldn't control the patients... They'd tried putting them into medically induced comas, but that didn't help... Anyways, at the time I thought it was just some crazy person making crap up about some disease. You know how people panic... When Swine Flu first started spreading everyone was convinced it was the end of times.

Now I was starting to wonder if that person at the coffee shop might have been right, and if Castiel _wasn't _full of shit talking about some "Croatoan" virus.

"So let's just pretend that you're not a raging psychopath," I said now. "How exactly would the devil have something to do with this virus?"

"Because he had it created," He answered. "It's a demonic virus that's spread by blood to blood contact. He needed something potent and deadly, and something that would spread quickly... Which this does. It won't be long, maybe a week or two before the entire country's been taken over by it."

"And the crystals, you said they're for taking out the government? I don't get it."

He sighed, accelerating even more as we continued to swerve down the road.

"Once the crystals are combined it will overload anything and everything electronic. The country will instantly be in a blackout. Which means, no electricity, no telephones or cell phones, nothing. And, several of his followers are going to be doing the same in other countries, which means no one is safe. Before long the entire planet will be reduced to-"

"The dark ages, yeah-" I nodded. "Makes sense... I guess." No it really didn't and I was still convinced this guy was a nut job.

"There's details of course that I'm neglecting to give you," He added. "But that's only because I don't feel you're mentally stable enough to hear it."

I frowned at that, but couldn't argue. I wasn't gonna argue with this guy, who the hell knows what he would do. At least for right now he was trying to "save" me from the apocalypse. Yeah, clearly he was crazy, but he wasn't violent crazy... That didn't mean he couldn't _turn_ violent crazy if I pissed him off or something.

"Where are you taking me?" I asked now.

"A safe place," He replied. "My friends have a bunker that should be fortified enough to protect us from the blast."

"So like a bomb shelter or something?"

"In a sense I suppose. But it's much more than a bomb shelter."

Really what the hell was I supposed to do about this? I couldn't exactly jump from a speeding car, and it didn't seem like he planned on stopping anytime soon so I couldn't escape that way either.

"Where is this bunker?" I went on.

"Lebanon. Which is why I'm so thankful that I actually landed in Kansas. I could have crashed down anywhere to be honest." He shifted and gazed at me again. "And I'm thankful that you actually stopped, because if you hadn't... I would have been stranded since I have no wings now."

Ugh... God... This just kept getting worse and worse.

"Wings, dude?" I retorted.

"Yes, once the other angels left, heaven was locked. Which means I'm cut off and the first thing that went was my wings. That's why I had to use a spell to travel to this location quickly, because I couldn't fly anymore."

Swallowing, I eyed him up and down because, if I wasn't completely nuts... Angels wouldn't have looked anything like him? At least, I didn't think they would.

"And, um... That wound on your stomach, how'd you really get it?"

"Someone tried to stop me from entering the portal once I opened it, we fought and I was stabbed." He answered.

"Who... Tried to stop you?"

His jaw clenched before he replied, "Demons."

God... Someone slap me and wake me up from this nightmare already!

I was gonna throw up... I was going to puke all over my car at this point, and I couldn't help but wish I'd just called in sick for work today... At least I could have spared myself what was happening now.

"It's going to be fine, Alice-" Castiel said now, giving me a reassuring nod. "You're going to be fine."

"Yeah," I bit back tears. "Yeah sure, Castiel... I believe you."

You're supposed to agree with everything a psycho murderer said, right? Well, that's what I was going to attempt anyways. But now it seemed we both fell into silence as we eventually left those winding roads and ended up on a gravel road that cut straight through more countryside that was mainly just empty fields. Another hour passed before we were entering the outskirts of Lebanon.

I'd been here once as a kid actually. My foster parents at the time would come once every year to visit relatives. So at least I was familiar with the area as Castiel sped through the now dead quiet streets. Eventually we cut through town all together and after just leaving it, he suddenly slowed to a stop as he pulled into a drive that was pretty much invisible from the main road.

It was a long gravel drive, and the farther up we went the more I could see some sort of structure looming over a tall hill above. Really, the place was enormous, seemed to be solid concrete walls and wasn't at all comforting to look at. We pulled to a stop at a door down a small set of stairs, and I felt my stomach lurch to my throat.

This looked very much like the entrance to a damn dungeon.

Castiel cut the engine, yanking my car keys out and taking them with him, so there went me actually jumping back behind the wheel and speeding away. I had no choice but to follow him now, and hope and pray that he wasn't going to eat my face once we got inside.

When we reached the door he gave a good firm knock which seemed to echo and clank down below before I heard a squeak and it slowly pushed open.

"About damn time," A male voice rang out from the darkness. "Was about to lock the door for good, Cas."

"I'm sorry I'm late," Castiel replied, then motioned to me in the background. "As I said... I brought a passenger."

Whoever this new guy was he peaked out from behind the door and in the darkness I caught a glimpse of green eyes and freckles. He looked me up and down before giving a very disinterested "Hm" and stepping aside.

Castiel stepped inside first and I nervously followed, fully expecting to see some sort of dungeon with chains and blades and other scary things to inflict torture. So, really I was surprised instead to see a large open room down below a set of stairs with a small table that was lit up with a map of the world, and past that was actually what looked like a library with long tables, lamps and even a few leather armchairs.

"So," The new guy said. "What's your name?"

"Alice," I answered, ringing my hands together in front of me. "Sorry, I... I don't even know what I'm doing here."

"Didn't Cas explain anything to you before you got here?" He replied.

"I explained it," Castiel answered before I could. "But that doesn't mean she believed it."

My mouth went slightly agape at that. "Well, it's just... The story he told me sounded kinda crazy and all."

"You don't know the half of it," New guy snorted, then waved over his shoulder. "Well go on, get down there and get settled in."

Castiel led the way down the stairs and seeing is that I had no chance of escaping, I followed.

Really, how much worse could this day get?

When we entered the library, immediately my eyes fell onto a woman that was sitting at the table. And not just any woman, she was in a police officers uniform which was definitely surprising. Once she saw Castiel and I she shifted in her seat and let out a sigh.

"Nice to see you again, Cas-" She said, giving a smile. "Who's your friend?"

"This is Alice," Castiel answered, taking a seat and acting as though nothing was out of the ordinary. "She assisted me earlier tonight after I made the trip through the portal."

With a nod, she shifted her dark brown eyes to me and nodded. "I'm Jody. Looks like you got lucky tonight, hon."

I could say nothing and only stood there awkwardly. Okay, so... A cop was here, so... Was that a good sign or a bad sign? Was it good in the sense that maybe Castiel and his gruff friend weren't serial killers? Or was it bad in the sense that a cop was just as crazy as them with all this Lucifer and apocalypse crap?

Unfortunately I just didn't know.

After Castiel's friend had returned and taken a seat, he propped his feet on the table and chugged at a beer looking pretty relaxed... Considering. Seconds after that another man moved into the room.

I wasn't aware that Sasquatch was going to be joining us, I thought after seeing him. He was really frickin' tall with semi long hair... Cute too, I couldn't help but notice, just as Castiel and his friend were. Okay, yeah... I wasn't going to allow myself to think my abductors were attractive.

"Oh," He said once he caught sight of me. "Who's this?"

"Alice," Castiel answered.

"I uh... Gave Castiel a hand tonight apparently." I added with a shrug. "As he told, uh..." I looked to the sarcastic looking guy chugging at his beer. "Well him."

Tall guy chuckled and gave a nod. "Right, well I'm Sam, and that's my brother Dean-" He said motioning to sarcastic guy who gave just as a sarcastic wave. "I'm sure you're pretty confused, right?"

"Understatement." I nodded, thankful that at least someone was talking to me somewhat normally.

"Well," Sam sighed. "I'll explain everything just as soon as all of this is over, but... I know you're probably freaking out right about now so I'll just say... We're not gonna hurt you, really... We're not some freaks and you're perfectly safe here."

"Yeah we're not the bad guys," Dean added. "And, uh... Sorry that I'm kind of a dick right now, but I guess I get cranky when the world's ending."

I frowned at that. "So you guys are in on this end of the world crap too?"

"It's true," Sam nodded. "And I know that it doesn't make sense and you'll be inclined to think we're nuts, but we're not... Which is why we're all here right now."

He motioned to one of the free seats and I took it without argument. I really did need to sit right about now.

"So," I swallowed. "Say I believed you and the world was really gonna end and this library slash bunker was immune to the blasts or whatever... Why are there only four of you here? You'd think you'd want to bring more people here?"

"Can't exactly drag perfect strangers here, Alice-" Dean replied. "They'd think we were nuts, just like you, and there'd be a full scale riot on our hands. Besides, we got other friends holed up in other places with their own groups, so... This is the best we can do."

Jody smiled at me again. "I'm kind of hip to all of this supernatural stuff, so... Once they found out what was coming they told me to come here for safety, and-" She held up her arms. "Here I am."

Still I couldn't understand how they could be so calm and nonchalant if the world was really about to end.

But maybe that was just a front or something? Maybe they were pretending to be calm just to keep each other calm? That might explain why Dean seemed to be on his way into a drunken stupor as he tossed aside his empty beer bottle and grabbed an unopened bottle of Jack Daniels.

After an hour of silence I could see that it was indeed a front they were putting on. Jody had averted her eyes to the table, and I could see her breath quickening. Castiel, was still stony faced however, but there was a touch of something in his eyes that I couldn't explain. Sam just seemed downright mopey with those sad puppy eyes, and Dean, well... Like I said Dean was on his way to being in a drunken stupor so... Really, I didn't know what the hell I was supposed to do here or how I was supposed to react.

Another twenty minutes or so suddenly the lights in the bunker shut off, and a set of emergency lights illuminated from the corners. Seconds after that I heard the door above the stairs groan and crack, as though some sort of super industrial lock just snapped into place. Another few seconds after that an alarm started buzzing and I immediately flew to my feet.

"Everyone get into position," Dean said, and took his bottle with him under the table.

Castiel grabbed me by the wrist and dragged me down with him, shoving me roughly under the table before joining me. Sam and Jody followed suit and before long the entire place started to violently shake; and as the alarm kept blaring and the walls kept shaking, sending plaster and light fixtures crashing down on the table on top of us... I couldn't help but repeat to myself this was a bad _bad _day!


	2. Chapter 2

**_Well I decided to post a second chapter, although I still don't know if I'll continue on with this, even though I love post apocalyptic stories and always wanted to write one. _**

* * *

><p><em><strong>One month later<strong>_

So... As it turns out Castiel and his buddies weren't _completely _crazy. They weren't these... These psycho end of the world people like you see on TV, the ones that drink the Kool-aid, or lock themselves underground with c-rations for no good reason at all. They actually were right... The world did end. It ended in the worst way imaginable.

The blasts Cas spoke of was horrible. It was terrifying and it lasted for hours and hours until I was convinced there would be nothing left outside but for steaming burnt black remains. And apparently after it was all over and done with and all fell silent outside, we couldn't leave. Their special bunker had some kind of lock down that would last a certain amount of time, according to Dean it was a month... Until it was deemed safe enough to go back outside. Ya know, radiation and all that noise had to fade, so... But I always assumed radiation would last a helluva lot longer that. Hello, Chernobyl, people?

But, the first week was the hardest by far. I was trapped with these people, strangers, who just kept getting weirder and weirder by the day. They were nice enough, don't get me wrong. Even Dean who was mostly sarcastic was nice to me. But, we could have been the last people left on earth for all he knew, and he of course made jokes about repopulating the planet and I was one of the only girls left, he was one of the only guys... You get it. Of course he was joking about all that... At least I think he was joking.

But yeah, the first week was the hardest as I tried to adjust to everything.

Since they were aware of the world ending before it happened, they were smart and stocked up on food and supplies. And... Their bunker had a generator and a cistern for water and gas that was going to last that month so we could still take hot showers, use the kitchen and everything like that. But, to stretch it out as much as possible we only took one shower a week, and it was limited to less than five minutes each.

As far as the food and supplies, it would last a good month or so too, then after that Dean said that we were going to have to leave the bunker. No ifs and's or buts about it, it had to be done.

Naturally I wasn't looking forward to it. I didn't want to see what became of the world. How horrible and awful it was going to be, how bloody and destroyed. There was bound to be bodies everywhere, not to mention those that would have the Croatoan virus.

So I came to find out that these people were so hip to all this crap because they were something called "hunters". Well, Jody wasn't a hunter, but she did know the ropes so to speak with all the supernatural crap that _came _with being a hunter.

Not only was the world ending a terrifying thought, but apparently there were also things like vampires, werewolves, some weird creatures called changelings and ghouls and god knows what else. Oh, and... The most surprising thing... Castiel wasn't hallucinating or delirious from blood loss when he claimed to be an angel... It was actually true...

I... Had no idea what to make of that.

To think not long ago my life was normal. Boring as hell, but normal. Now... Here I was with four strangers, one who was a frickin' angel of the lord, and the world was a steaming pile of garbage.

"Wrong!" Dean said, breaking me of my thoughts. "Try again, Ali."

Apparently one of Dean's habits was giving everyone a nick name. And... I hated mine. I hated when people called me Ali, it just rubbed me the wrong way, but... He seemed to do it even more once he found out how much I disliked it. That's just how Dean was I noticed.

Oh, and he had taken to teaching me how to use a gun down in their shooting range, and obviously I wasn't progressing as much as he would have liked.

Since we were now going to be living in an actual zombie apocalypse and our lock down in the bunker was coming to an end in literally an hour or so, I needed to know how to defend myself of course.

Thank god they had the bunker stocked too with weapons and ammo galore. We would have been so screwed without that.

"Well I'm sorry, Dean-" I snapped back. "It's a little hard to hold the damn gun right and all that crap when there's not even a clip in there. Oh, I'll just pretend to shoot the target then," I took aim now. "Pew pew pew."

"Ha ha, you think you're a fucking comedian don't ya?" Dean replied, sneering in my direction. "We're not wasting ammo on target practice."

"Yeah, and when the time comes that I need to blow a zombies head off... I won't know how to shoot, so sounds smart to me."

Dean leaned against the ledge in front of me, his expression not at all amused. "Gimme that-" He said then snatched the gun from my hands. "Okay, just this once, but you only got five rounds so just... Try not to suck."

I smiled and passed a glance to Cas who was also having a weapons lesson, only... He seemed to be doing much better than I was... Guess it came with being an angel or something. Which if you asked me was still just as weird, that an angel would need to practice with guns and things like that. But, he claimed that with heaven being locked up eventually his powers would grow dimmer and dimmer until he would be just like everyone else. Human... And Cas, oddly enough, seemed to accept that.

"Well?" Dean prodded, elbowing me lightly. "Are you gonna shoot or are you just gonna stand there?"

I frowned at him and then finally took aim. And, just my luck I really did suck with a gun, which of course only gave Dean something else to pick on me about. God, I'd only been with these people a month and already he felt comfortable enough to tease me and make me feel like an idiot.

It was actually kinda fun. I didn't have any brothers or sisters, so I never got to experience things like that before. And... With my parents being dead going on twenty years now, and no other family or friends to speak of... I was the epitome of alone in the world. Quite literally as a matter of fact now, seeing is that the world went and blew up and the majority of the populace was more then likely dead. Anyone I might have been acquainted with was gone, so... I guess I was just thankful to have someone, even if it was these strange hunters, a former angel, and Jody.

But, after I failed with my first time shooting, Dean snatched the gun from my hand and grumbled.

"So, maybe you should just stay behind when we go out, cause we don't want you getting ripped to shreds or something." He said.

I glared at him. "Uh, no. I think I'll be okay out there. I got my knife, and apparently a machete now. Besides... I wanna help."

Cas stopped what he was doing and turned to face us. "I think it's best if we all stay together, Dean. Just in case."

Yeah, Cas was a super nice guy... Err, angel I mean. And, while Dean was being his sarcastic self and picking on me or giving me a hard time, Cas would defend me. Maybe it was just in his nature. I mean an angel's gotta be nice, right? He wouldn't have gotten that halo by being an asshole.

"I know, I know-" Dean grumbled. "Was just teasing her, Cas. Anyways... We're gonna be heading out in an hour." He nudged me with the back of his hand. "Be ready."

"Yes, sir." I mumbled in reply, frowning in his direction when he bounded from the shooting range.

"Don't mind, Dean-" Cas said. "I've noticed he has a tendency to tease everyone he doesn't immediately dislike."

I chuckled. "Well that's good to know I guess. At least I won't have to feel left out."

He gave a small tilt of a smile before nodding. "So, how have you been adjusting to all of this, Alice? I know it's probably been very difficult for you."

But I didn't answer that right away, because I really didn't know how I was supposed to tell Cas that the thought of leaving the bunker had me scared out of my mind. That seeing what was left of the world was going to completely crush me and make me want to crawl in a corner and hide.

"Actually, I have some questions," I said instead. "There's still quite a bit of details that you guys haven't told me, and... Since we very well might be the only people left on earth it's kind of stupid to hold secrets, don't you think?"

He shrugged, sitting his pistol aside. "I imagine so. What is it you want to know?"

"This whole devil crap," I started. "I kinda want to know just exactly how he managed to do all of this so quickly? To me, planning on destroying the world and coming up with a demonic virus would take some time."

He nodded. "You're right. It did. It's not as though all of this happened overnight, no matter how fast it all went down." Sighing, he moved his way closer and leaned against the wall in front of me. "You see... Several years ago Lucifer had broken out of his cage with every intention of doing this very thing. Luckily, Sam and Dean stopped it. I helped them as much as I was able and, long story short, Lucifer was returned to his cage. We honestly believed that would be the end of it. But... Apparently he had taken measures, made plans, just in case something like that happened. We weren't at all prepared for that, had no idea that he had sabotaged the lock on his cage. Because he sabotaged it, it only took him these five years to bust it open and escape again."

I crossed my arms, sitting on the ledge behind me. "So... Lucifer broke out a second time, and?"

"And... We weren't aware of it until a few short months ago. Naturally we tried everything within our power to stop him a second time, but he was much more clever about everything this time. He wasn't going to allow us to get the jump on him again. He went deep underground and all of his followers did his dirty work for him. About three weeks before the blasts started we came to find out that Lucifer had discovered these crystals from the four corners of the globe. They had only been rumored of, no one had ever actually seen them with their own two eyes so heaven wasn't able to get their hands on them before Lucifer." He stopped, shaking his head. "Everything that Lucifer wanted to happen, the apocalypse, all of the death and destruction... It happened because he used those crystals. And then of course there's the virus. His backup plan I imagine. If anyone were to survive the blasts then the virus was going to pick off anyone left behind."

Maybe it wasn't such a good idea for him to tell me all of this, because it's not like it was making me feel any better. Living in blissful ignorance might have done me more justice.

"I was never a church going gal back in the day," I said. "I don't know much about god, or heaven, or the devil... So, maybe I just don't get it... I don't understand why Lucifer would do something like this?"

"He wants to punish humanity, and he wants to punish God. He's a spiteful, vindictive and repulsive creature and the only thing he lives for, is watching others suffer."

"Apparently." I sighed, jumping down from the ledge behind me. "Okay, so... What's the plan exactly? I know you've been having secret meetings at night with Sam and Dean. Is there something that you need to share with the rest of the class? Me and Jody have a right to know what's going to happen."

His eyes dropped to the floor as he seemed to focus on a particular scuff in front of him.

"Presently the only plan there might be is finding a way to survive in this world now. For right now, here at the bunker, we're as safe as we can be. Nothing supernatural can break inside, not even Lucifer. But, we can't remain here forever. We're already almost out of rations, another week or so the water and gas will have dwindled away. After that we're going to have to move on and try to find another location."

Now I know I didn't know Cas like Sam and Dean did; I had only known him for a month and that's hardly enough time to learn any tells he might have had. But... I was convinced he was lying to me right then. There was something else that Sam and Dean must have been planning, and he just wasn't telling me.

It's not like I could get angry over that. They were the professionals, so to speak. They were the ones that had been hunters their entire life. They knew their way around a monster or two, so it's not like I would stomp up to either of them and demand answers. Chances were good that whatever it was they were planning, they wanted to keep it from someone like me... Because I was a civilian, a normal person, someone that couldn't handle all of the dangerous shit they went through daily. Nice, yes, very touching that they wanted to protect me; but they were going to have to realize pretty damn soon that I was stuck with them, and like it or not I wanted to help.

"It'll be okay, Alice-" Cas said, breaking through my thoughts. "I know that right now everything seems bleak, but... Believe me, we've been through quite a lot over the years, and if anyone could find a way to survive in this world now. It's going to be Sam and Dean."

"Thank you, Cas-" I sighed. "You really are a nice guy... I mean," I rose my hands. "Sorry, angel."

He gave half a smile. "Yes well, for the moment that's what I am still. But, not for much longer."

"How long do you got?" I replied. "Until you're human?"

"It's hard to say. I suppose it all depends on how much of my powers I use and how often. If I can hold off and use them as sparingly as possible, maybe I'll get lucky and they'll last a year. If not, then... It could be a few months."

"Guess that's gonna be quite the transition for you, huh? Going from angel to human."

He pushed away from the wall, then grabbed his jacket he had sat aside. "Actually, no. It wouldn't be the first time I was human."

I followed him from the shooting range and up the stairs. "Really? How did that happen?"

"That's... A very long story, Alice."

"Gotcha. Guess it's not one you're wanting to share."

"I'll just say that I made mistakes, and what happened to me was the result of those mistakes. I was human for a while because of that, but... Things ended up working out, those mistakes were fixed. And... Well, I got my grace back, but I suppose it doesn't matter anymore now."

Well that certainly peaked my curiosity. Of course I wanted to know what had happened in the past that actually resulted in Cas losing his grace and becoming human. That just sounded so crazy. Or, well... Just as crazy as everything else I'd learned over the last month.

"So," We stopped at the top of the stairs and I awkwardly shifted on my feet. "If I can ask... Why exactly did heaven lock you out anyways?"

"For the same reason that they always have," He replied, starting off for the library. "Because I sided with the Winchesters'."

He left me in silence now, left to reflect on what that must have meant. Sounded as though heaven didn't really like Sam and Dean much. Which yeah, was confusing of course. By the sounds of them they had saved the world more than once, so why the angels would hate them was beyond me. But, that was a story best saved for later, right now I had other things to focus on... Like leaving the bunker and seeing the steaming pile of garbage that was the world now.

The time was just ticking down until the locks on the bunker door snapped open. It wouldn't be long now, a good thirty minutes, and I couldn't help but grow more and more anxious the faster that time ticked away. Before long, we were all standing at the top of the stairs as the lock groaned and creaked before with a loud clunk, snapped open.

I stood back with Jody, trying my best to pretend I wasn't about to pee my pants. I think she sensed that, because she put an arm around me and squeezed.

"It'll be okay, honey." She said. "We'll be fine."

Dean took the lead as he approached the door, and after giving a nod to Sam who was holding a double barrel and ready to blast the hell out of anything that might have been out there... Dean pushed the door open. Or... He tried to push the door open, the most he managed was a good foot or so before it wouldn't budge another inch.

"What the hell..." He garbled, using his shoulder and grunting like crazy as he pushed. "Something's blockin' the damn door."

"Cas?" Sam said. "You think you can manage it?"

Cas stepped forward now and Dean moved aside. He rested his hand against the door and really, he acted like he was just pushing a feather as he forced the door open more, shoving whatever was in front of it out of the way.

Once he moved aside and we all took a glance outside, we noticed that what was blocking the door was a thick concrete block that must have busted loose from the wall.

"Well," Dean sighed. "That's always a good sign."

He moved out first, squeezing past the large block as we all followed. And... Once we were outside, the only thing I wanted desperately to do was turn around and run right back inside.

Even from where we stood in the bunker driveway I could see just how burnt and destroyed everything was. The trees, which had previously been green and full of life weren't much more than charred sticks anymore. The grass was brown and crunchy, some patches were still smoking. The sky had a strange grayish brown overcast that didn't look to be fading anytime soon, but past it I could see the sun trying its best to shine through. The land stretching out around the property wasn't any better. There was nothing but burnt and brown for as far as the eye could see. The only thing jutting up out of the blank landscape was the bunkers walls, which were cracked and just as charred as everything else. But, thankfully it's not so easy to burn and destroy ten feet thick concrete.

"Damn..." Jody spoke first, taking a few steps past us. "I didn't think it was gonna be this bad."

I don't think any of us did... Even Sam and Dean looked stunned speechless, and I knew they had seen a lot of bad crap in their time.

"Wonder how bad off the town is?" Dean replied. "Wonder if anything's still standing?"

"Only one way to find out," Sam added. "I'll get to the garage and grab the jeep."

Because to Dean's dismay, I soon found out after joining them, he wasn't going to be able to drive his car anymore. An Impala, or something. A car that the man practically made out with on a daily basis. Since the world was going to be post apocalyptic from here on out, naturally the best vehicle of choice would be something they'd armored up. An old army jeep by the looks of it, something that Sam and Dean both had been welding on and tinkering with since we got locked down. It basically looked like a makeshift tank now, and I didn't think anyone or anything could bust inside of it.

"Everyone get inside and grab their gear," Dean ordered. "Your gun, your knives, everything."

We each had our own individual "Armageddon Bags" as Dean had called them too. Basically it was satchels that were big enough to carry anything worth looting, but small enough that it wouldn't slow us down should we need to run. Basically, it was empty but for a canteen of water, a few small rations like packages of crackers and beef jerky, and of course a switch blade that we weren't carrying directly on us. It was enough to get us by just in case we were ever out on a mission or something and couldn't get back to the bunker, or wherever else we might have been holing up, in the same day.

I rushed back inside to my room, grabbing my satchel, my machete and newly acquired pistol, then threw on my jacket. My stomach was still spinning, I still thought I might throw up any second now, but managed to force it away. I couldn't be a coward in this, because it wasn't only my life on the line if I was distracted out there and fucked up. It was theirs too, and I sure as hell did _not _want to be responsible for something happening to one of them.

Which meant I needed to grow some balls, and fast. I couldn't let whatever issues I might have had mess me up anymore. The world had changed, which meant I couldn't bask in the solitude of my apartment anymore, I couldn't hide away from the world anymore either. Whatever was left of it... I had to be a part of it now, for as long as I was able, until I got ripped to shreds by a crazy zombie or... Or whatever dangers there was out there now.

Everyone met up outside in the driveway again where Sam waited with the jeep. Dean locked the bunker door behind him before jumping in the passenger seat, while Cas, Jody and I climbed in the back. Since I was the smallest I was stuck in the middle, feeling just as awkward and uncomfortable squished between the two of them.

"Okay," Dean said, and whatever sarcasm he might have had was gone completely. "Let's go see what's left."

* * *

><p>I remembered a scene from some zombie TV show that was pretty damn popular before the world went to crap. It showed a city, or a town, that was basically nothing but rubble and bodies laying in the street. The gore and horror was just... Horrible... And it was horrifying now seeing what was left of Lebanon because it looked exactly like that scene from that TV show.<p>

What little buildings there were left were barely standing, the roofs blown completely off, most of the walls crumbled down to nothing but piles of bricks and charred wood. The streets were jam packed with smoking burnt out vehicles and half decayed corpses. Most looked like they were caught running away from something, the blasts had knocked them down and singed away all of the skin and hair on their backs, but their faces and fronts were still partially intact. The smell... God, it made me gag.

There wasn't any sign of life anywhere, not even a frickin' bird or squirrel, and the silence was sending uncomfortable eerie shivers up and down my spine. At least I could take comfort in the thought that there weren't any crazy zombies running around.

We parked on the outer edges of town, because the streets were just too crowded with debris and broken down cars to maneuver the jeep through. Which meant we were on foot, and that was definitely unsettling.

Sam and Dean took the lead, with Jody and I in the middle while Cas brought up the rear. I guess the guys didn't want us two girls out in the open just in case we got ambushed or something.

No one really said much, but I knew we were all thinking the same thing... Which was, if Lebanon was this bad off, what did the rest of the country look like? I could only imagine the destruction in big cities like L.A or Chicago. God... What a mess they would be.

Once we got to the center of Main street and where all the former business used to be, Dean came to a stop and raised his hand.

"Okay, we'll make quicker time if we separate from here on out." He said. "We search through the debris for anything worth salvaging, and then we meet back up here in one hour and no more. Everyone understand?"

"Yeah," I nodded. "Got it."

"Me and Alice can go together," Jody offered. "We should be okay out there, Dean."

Sam arched an eyebrow at that, then cast a quick glance to Cas.

"I'll go with them." He quickly said. "I'll watch their back."

Both Dean and Sam nodded in approval over that, and they took off in the opposite direction.

Once they were out of sight, successfully smothered out by the clouds of smoke and odd colored fog, we started on our own way.

The first place we searched through looked to be a hardware store, but everything was so charred and black it was hard to be certain. There wasn't anything worth taking there, nothing at all, so we moved onto the next building that was still partially standing.

This place was in slightly better shape than the hardware store, it used to be a bakery... I think... Most of everything was molded beyond all recognition, but there was a few packages of soup and muffin mixes that were still intact and clean. I quickly stuffed those in my satchel and started sifting through another pile of rubble before unearthing a charred black face that stared up at me.

"Jesus..." I gasped, then fell backwards on my butt.

"What's wrong?" Cas asked, darting from his own pile of crap. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah," I nodded, trying to catch my breath, then pointed to the dead someone staring up with their jaw unhinged. "Just... Wasn't expecting that."

He knelt down beside me and took one quick glance at the body. "As morbid as it sounds, Alice... You're going to have to get used to seeing things like that now a days."

"I know." I choked back vomit that was slowly creeping its way up my throat. "It's just... Gonna take ma a little while I think. I'm not used to this kind of crap like you guys are."

He helped me back to my feet, giving me his version of a sympathetic smile before going back to searching through the rubble. Jody cast me a quick glance from across the room, and even though she wanted to say something I knew she was going to wait until we were alone to do it.

Thankfully we left the remnants of the bakery not long after that disturbing discovery, and went to searching through other buildings. And, overall our haul was pretty damn lousy. Besides the muffin and soup mixes we found a couple unopened bottles of water, a container of would be stale cheese puffs, and one bag of beef jerky. Really with everyone dead in the world you would think there would have been at least a little something more. Unless... Unless that was a sign that there were survivors out there and had looted everything before we could?

After an hour though we met back up with Sam and Dean, who had just about the same amount of luck as we did. They found a few bottles of water too, one bottle of lemon lime Gatorade, and a box of Wheat Thins.

"Well, this ain't good." Dean commented as he glanced over our small haul.

"What do you suggest we do, Dean?" Cas replied.

He and Sam exchanged glances before Sam answered. "We only searched the businesses here on Main street and surrounding. We didn't check any residential areas. There might be more worth looting in actual houses. Clothes and blankets, other odds and ends that we're gonna need."

"And," I swallowed hard. "After we've searched through all the houses and looted everything worth taking, what are we supposed to do then?"

Dean pursed his lips at that before averting his eyes to the odd colored sky above. "Well, as much I'd wanna stay in the bunker cause it's safe, we're not gonna be able to do that. We'll have to move on, find another location that would ensure we don't starve to death."

"Like?" Jody asked, brushing her short hair from her forehead. "Where do you think that would be?"

"Since we knew this was coming beforehand we marked a couple places on the map where we could hole up," Dean started. "A couple small towns, a couple farms, or... A couple campgrounds."

"Campgrounds?" Cas stood tall. "As in... Camp Chitaqua?"

"Yeah," Dean nodded. "I know it's kinda disturbing to think about, but it really is a good place for us to be. Especially if we come across any survivors out there that are gonna need our help and protection."

Okay, I was obviously curious about this Camp Chitaqua place and why exactly it had Cas so spooked.

"And," Sam added. "With the surrounding woods at these campgrounds, depending on if their still standing after the blasts anyways, could be good for hunting game. Deer, quail, things like that. Which we're gonna have to learn to do, because eventually whatever supplies we find in rubble is gonna start wearing thin. We need something to fall back on."

"We'll take a vote." Dean concluded. "When it comes the time that we need to leave the bunker and move on; we'll take a vote on where we're gonna go."

Well at least we all were going to have a say in what would happen. That was nice I suppose. Although I can say with a certainty that I was not looking forward to leaving the safety and sanctuary of the bunker.


	3. Chapter 3

It was like a frickin' nightmare... A horrible awful nightmare that no matter how badly you wanted to, you just couldn't wake up from it.

We ran out of food. Our rations had run out that morning with breakfast, our water was a drop or two away from being completely dry and... We were just so unbelievably screwed.

It's not like it was a surprise or something, we all knew it was coming. Since everything happened so quickly, and Lucifer managed to destroy the world with barely any notice ahead of time; they only managed to gather enough supplies to last that month. So, running out of food and water wasn't to be unexpected, but still... It was frightening. That meant the safety and sanctuary of the bunker was going to be taken away from us. We were going to have to leave after we had looted and scavenged anything worth taking from town. Which, wasn't gonna be much longer. In the week since our first trip into what was left of Lebanon, we had managed to search through all of the main buildings and even what was left of a few houses. We had probably two streets left and then after that... We were done. There would be no more homes or buildings left to loot. After that happened... We could kiss the bunker goodbye.

As much as I wanted to play make believe and pretend that the situation wasn't as dangerous as it actually was... I couldn't. I had to face the facts, as I stood at my duffel bag and stuffed what little belongings I had inside it... That this was it... Soon, as in minutes or hours, we were going to be leaving the bunker and Lebanon. We were going to start driving, to one of the locations Dean and Sam had marked down on the map. Hopefully, what we would find there wouldn't be a steaming crater.

I think Sam mentioned that it was a farm, what used to be a dairy farm I think. We were hoping that there would be some cattle left alive in the fields, maybe a house or barn still standing. If not, if the place was going to be a bust, then it would be onto the next location. Maybe another farm, maybe a campground, I had no idea.

"How's it coming?" Sam asked, peaking in at me as I stood at my bed.

"Okay." I answered. "I think I have everything."

"Make sure you triple check, Alice-" He added, moving inside. "You don't wanna leave anything behind."

"I know. Cause something tells me it's not gonna be so easy to find pairs of jeans or shoes out there anymore. Can't just walk into the mall now a days, right?"

"Well technically we could," He shrugged. "If there's actually malls still standing, but I don't think there's gonna be much left to shop for."

Even though I was never a mall going girl back in the day, somehow that comment just depressed me even more.

"Yeah, so... Are there any specific plans that I should know about?" I asked now.

"Same crap, different day-" He answered. "We search the houses that are left, and hopefully we find enough supplies to take with us on the road. We're leaving in fifteen minutes by the way."

I nodded. "Right, I'll be ready."

He gave me a very fake smile before leaving the room, and I waited until I couldn't hear his footsteps any longer before letting out a sigh and flopping down on the edge of my bed.

It had only been a little over a month since I was pretty much forced into this bunker, but... I was actually going to miss it. My room, which really wasn't much but for a bed and dresser, I hated the thought of leaving it behind. But I had to suck it up, just as I had been trying to do since all of this mess started. So, I finished packing my duffel, throwing the last traces of clothes inside and zipping it closed, then left the room.

I met everyone in the library, just like always, and Sam and Dean were going over the supplies we had left. There was a small stack of crackers, the usual beef jerky and a couple cans of beans and tuna. That was it. Road snacks I guess, considering we were going to be driving for who knows how long now.

Over the last couple of days Cas had retired his trench coat and suit, and now was sporting one of Dean's outfits. Dark wash jeans, a t-shirt and plain gray button up over that. Really, it was funny how something like that could make him look so much different. Even though I never knew an actual angel before, somehow his past look seemed to fit that persona. Now... Now he looked normal, human, just another change to adjust to.

Jody joined us seconds later, dropping her own bag down on the table. "All set, boys."

"Good." Dean nodded. "Looks like we're all ready then, huh? Might as well get everything packed up."

"Who's driving the other jeep?" Jody asked. "Cause I always could."

"We'll alternate," Sam replied. "For right now Cas is gonna drive it. As long as he's still got his mojo we want him in charge, just in case we're ambushed on the road or something."

"Right, gotcha." Jody nodded, trying to fake a smile just like Sam had.

Along with their armored up army jeep, they had a second one that wasn't as tank like but still just as safe in my opinion. It was safer yeah to all go in one vehicle, but we couldn't bring as much with us that way, and we needed all we could manage to stuff in the back of those jeeps.

"So," I cleared my throat. "Can I ask where we're gonna go, just in case that dairy farm's not standing anymore?"

Everyone exchanged glances before Dean answered. "We got a place we're gonna go, somewhere that if our friends survived the blasts, was gonna meet us after a month."

My brows raised at that. "Oh... Where at?"

"Sioux Falls," Sam replied. "If our friends aren't there, we're gonna wait it out a couple weeks and if they don't show, well..."

That made me shudder. "Well, these friends... Were they hunters too?"

"Not exactly," Sam continued. "Let's just say they were introduced to the supernatural world in not so good ways."

"Which means they had to learn the ropes pretty damn quick," Dean added. "So they're not hunters per se, but they know how to handle themselves now."

I supposed that meant that they had been attacked by a monster, or something else bad happening to them which enabled them to grow that hard shell that I noticed they all had. So far, I didn't have that shell. Other than seeing the world a wasteland, nothing truly traumatic had happened to me yet. It was horrible that I was wondering when that would happen, when I would be nearly killed and then turn into some cold person with a hard outer shell no one could hope to bust through.

In truth, I was already a semi cold person. When you go through certain things that I had gone through growing up in foster care, you have to become that. You have to be cold and unfeeling... Unapproachable and unlikable... Or else you could hurt all over again. No, I wasn't really such a mean bitch, or cold, it was just an act... But it had protected me for a long time now and I didn't see myself snapping out of it anytime soon.

Oddly enough... I think Cas saw through my little act. I think that might have been why he was extra nice to me or something. Maybe being an angel he could sense what was really going on inside of me, really I didn't know.

But, I didn't want to like these people. Liking people was dangerous, it set you up for disappointment and pain when you allowed yourself to get close to _and or_ care for someone. It was just too risky. Which is why I had no friends in the past before the world died. Growing up, I didn't have anyone, as an adult I didn't have anyone... But I was forced into this situation, forced to possibly be one of the only people left on earth, and because of that... I had no choice. I was forced with these people who really were nice, and I could see myself actually growing fond of them. Which as I said, was dangerous.

But what the hell else was I supposed to do? Run away? Run away and because I was such an amateur at this sort of thing I immediately get torn to shreds? Maybe I could just stay with them long enough to learn how to survive on my own, and then I could take off.

"Yo, Ali-" Dean said, snapping his fingers in front of my face. "Wake up, we're loading up."

"Oh," I shook away my daze. "Sorry."

I grabbed my bag and a few other things from the table and jogged my way up the stairs, meeting Cas by the second jeep that he was filling up with gas.

"Which jeep?" I asked, holding up the bags.

"Either one, Alice-" He replied. "Although I think this one has less."

I nodded and tossed everything in the back, arranging them to make more room as Cas lowered the near empty gas can to the ground.

He looked as though he was going to say something, but didn't get the chance because everyone else joined us outside with the rest of the supplies.

"Are we sure we got everything?" Dean asked. "Cause once I lock the door, I'm not opening it again."

"Yeah, Dean-" Sam nodded. "We got everything, don't worry."

"Not unless someone wants to grab the TV before we go." Jody joked. "Or maybe one of the beds."

"Yeah we'll just strap em all to the roof of the car." Dean snorted. "Okay," He sighed. "Everyone say adios to the bunker."

He hesitated approaching the door, standing there thumping the key against his palm several times over. It was surprising actually, seeing Dean look so sad. I had heard him mention something to Sam that this bunker was the only real home he ever had, so no kidding this was hard on him. Sam seemed troubled too, sure, but not nearly as distressed over leaving as Dean did.

"Fuck it." Dean muttered, then stomped down the stairs, slammed the bunker door and locked it. Once he was done, he shoved the key back in his pocket and moved back to his jeep. "Let's go."

Jody immediately climbed in the backseat of their jeep while Sam jumped in the passenger.

"You're with me, Alice." Cas stated, then climbed behind the wheel.

I was? Why exactly?

Oh hell, I knew why. It was because I was clueless, I was the helpless one that didn't know what the fuck she was doing and would get herself killed if I didn't have an angel watching my every move.

With a scowl I stomped to the passenger side and climbed in, slamming the door. I needed to prove to them pretty damn quick that I wasn't completely helpless... So I just needed to figure out how exactly I was going to do that.

* * *

><p>Jackpot... I'd hit the mother load of all mother loads when it came to uncooked pasta. For some reason the house we were looting was stocked full of boxes of spaghetti, macaroni noodles, penne and even some of those little tiny star shaped noodles you'd find in soups. Not only that, but there were unopened jars and cans of marinara sauce. Six in total, and I wanted to do a major happy dance.<p>

I was stacking everything in an old plastic tub I had found in the hallway closet, and when Dean walked in and noticed what I was loading he did a double take.

"Holy crap look at that." He said. "Good job, Alice."

"Yeah, looks like we're raiding Chef Boyardee's place." I replied. "You guys find anything in the other rooms?"

"Couple bottles of antibiotics in the bathroom, couple enema bags."

"Oh goodie," I snorted. "Just what we needed."

"Yeah, other than that there was some bathroom supplies like soaps and shampoo. But, that's about it."

He moved through the kitchen, past the pantry I had just looted and glanced out what was left of the backdoor that was practically burnt off its hinges. Actually this was one of the only houses in town that wasn't too bad off as far as damage went. The roof was still intact for the most part, and but for a gaping hole in the living room wall it was in once piece.

"Storage shed in the back." He stated. "You wanna go check that out?"

"Sure." I replied. "No problem."

"There's a privacy fence back there, so no one can sneak up on you. I'm still gonna send Cas or Jody out with you though, okay?"

I said nothing to that and instead finished packing up the pasta and jars of sauce, then moved past him and out the backdoor. Honestly, the thought of going off anywhere alone scared the hell out of me, but I had something to prove so I ignored that twisting in my gut.

The backyard of this place was the only one I had seen so far that had grass left. There were a few burnt or charred spots, but overall everything was still green. For a half a second I almost forgot about the rest of the world being brown and dead.

The storage shed was just as intact as the house, the door had previously been locked with a padlock but was now laying on the ground busted into pieces.

Not a good sign. That meant someone had been here recently and broken into the shed. But, if that was the case then why didn't they loot the pasta and other things inside the house?

Still I was careful as I inched my way closer to the shed, taking a peak in through the tiny windows beside the door and seeing it empty but for stacked cardboard boxes and an old push lawnmower. I really doubted there would be anything worth taking in those boxes, but I had to check them out anyhow.

After I pulled the door open, which seemed to get stuck on the lumpy grass and dragged to the point it actually ripped it up by the roots, I was inside.

Stale dusty air smacked me in the face, spiderwebs with dozens of dead flies were dangling down which I had to duck to miss. Past the dust and staleness though there was a faint scent of something strange lingering in the air. I couldn't figure out what it was exactly, it was slightly metallic smelling, slightly musty and old... Really gross and almost made me gag.

I started in on my first box, finding gardening supplies and plastic watering cans. That was a no go so I sat it aside and started on the box underneath.

More gardening supplies and fertilizer, a few pairs of work gloves and an old wound up hose. Nada with that one too.

The third box proved to be a little more useful and had some folded up flannel shirts. Most of them were in good shape, a couple had holes chewed through them thanks to mice or moths or something, but I still sat that box outside the shed because flannel shirts would come in handy during the winter.

There were a good twenty boxes in that tiny shed, all stacked up on top of each other and blocking the view from the back of the structure. If there was anything worth nabbing back there, I didn't know yet and wouldn't until all the boxes were sifted through and moved aside.

As I started in on my third box I felt myself go stiff when I heard a rustling sound come from the back of the shed. Almost like scratching, which of course freaked me out because rats or mice... No way, I didn't do rats or mice.

The rustling died down pretty much instantly as my stomach finally started to untwist. Just as long as the rodents didn't come near me, we wouldn't have any problems. Of course the little shits didn't want to agree to that arrangement as a rat the size of a small dog darted out from behind the boxes and right over my feet.

Somehow I kept myself from squealing in terror, and of course resisted the urge to pull out my pistol and start firing. The stupid rat ran out the open door and disappeared across the yard, so... I was safe.

"Jeez." I muttered. "Get a grip, Alice."

Five minutes later I had managed to make a small path to the back of the shed by rearranging the boxes. In the back was a small work bench covered in tools and baby food jars of nuts and bolts. I didn't know if the boys would find those kinds of things useful, so I didn't bother to pack anything up and would instead let them make that call. Just my luck there were more boxes stored underneath the bench, so I got to pulling those out and knelt down on my knees to pick through them.

One was full of old porno magazines which made my eyes roll. Dean might have appreciated those, but they would take up space best used for something that was actually _useful_. So, I shoved that box aside. Dean could whack off to the _memories _of porno magazines as far as I was concerned.

The other box had random bits of metal and things I couldn't identify, which was garbage in my opinion, and the third box was full of holiday decorations. I halfway glanced at a small figurine of Jesus and felt myself snort.

"So much for that." I said, then shoved that box back under the work bench.

When I heard footsteps come to a stop at the shed door I let out a sigh, not bothering to glance at whoever Dean had sent out to babysit me.

"Not much so far," I said absently. "A box of flannel shirts and that's about it. I don't know what's in the rest of the boxes so you can give me a hand if you want."

Thankfully Cas or Jody, or whoever it was, started bumping against the boxes which I assumed meant they were going to do as I said and help me out. When I glanced over my shoulder I couldn't see them past the boxes, and only made out a faint shadow on the ground. Looked like a mans shadow, so I guess it was safe to assume it was Cas that was there.

Since the boxes under the work bench were nothing but crap, I stood again and turned to head back to the front of the shed when my feet suddenly stopped.

For several long seconds it was like my brain was trying to register what I was looking at. Like... Like it wasn't some perfect stranger in straggly burnt clothes and face staring back at me. Like... Whoever that man was... You couldn't tell he was far from normal. His eyes were... Fucked up. Red, like blood red, around the irises and his pupils were dilated so much you could barely make out anything else but black. He was staring at me like I was a thick juicy steak he couldn't wait to chomp down on.

You know, you always imagine what you would do in situations like that. Like say, you're walking to your car in a dark parking lot and you get jumped. It's easy to think that you're going to fight back, you're going to somehow bust out some moves that would make Bruce Lee jealous. You would take down that mugger or murderer in a few swift moves, rendering him a bloody and broken mess on the ground. It's so easy to think you could manage that, it's easy to envision something like that happening until you're actually put in a situation like that.

I did the one thing that I never ever wanted to do, the one thing that I swore would never happen if I was in a dangerous situation like this.

I froze...

The fact that I had a pistol in my jacket never even crossed my mind, the fact that screaming for help was a possibility never even crossed my mind either. The only thing I could do was stand there stiff and frozen, barely able to breathe as this thing started to inch his way closer to me.

He moved past the door and the stack of boxes there, closing the gap between us by a good foot or so before coming to a stop.

I couldn't run even if I managed to unglue my feet from the ground. He was blocking the door, this stupid shed didn't have a back exit, and the windows were too tiny to crawl out of. Not that I would have the time to break the glass and attempt that anyhow.

His breathing was strange, fast and erratic, with a few grunts and almost snarls mixed in. I swore to god that I was going to pee my pants, and my heart was racing so quickly I was pretty sure it would stop all together.

Just as the thing was going to lunge at me and do god knows what, I heard a POP as the side of his head suddenly exploded and blood and brain matter splattered on the shed wall. Once the guy, or monster or zombie or whatever you wanted to call him fell to the ground, that's when I noticed Cas standing there with his pistol in hand. How I didn't notice him slip inside past the boxes... I had no idea.

He stared at the dead thing for a few seconds as a river of blood trailed across the dirty floor and around the body. After that, he moved his attention to me.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

Snap out of it! I screamed at myself over and over. Stop standing there like a deer caught in the headlights and fucking say something!

Cas was gaping at me now, his eyes squinted in concern because clearly I was having some sort of psychotic episode.

"Alice?" He inched closer warily. "Say something... Did he hurt you? Did he bleed on you?"

That last question made me flinch. "What?"

"Did he bleed on you?"

It was kind of disturbing to see how he didn't put his pistol back in his jacket, that he kept it at his side... The silencer that they had all put on their guns as to not attract attention was smoking still. If I was more paranoid... I would say that Cas was keeping his gun out to use on me.

"N-No," I shook my head, inching my way back until I pressed against the work bench. "No, he didn't bleed on me, why?"

He sighed at that, finally easing up as he stuffed the pistol back inside his jacket.

"He was one infected with the Croatoan virus, Alice-" He replied. "If I hadn't of showed up when I did then..." Pausing, he shook that off. "Never mind, it doesn't matter now. We need to get back to the others now, because if he was here-" He nudged the body with his foot. "Then chances are good that there are others as well."

I remembered after that that Cas had told me the night I found him on the road, that the virus was spread by blood to blood contact. So, that explained why he asked if the guy had bled on me. And, I guess that explained why he was hesitant to put his gun away. He probably figured he was going to have to blow my brains out too.

"Alice?" Cas inched closer, eying me up and down. "Are you sure you're all right?"

"Hm, uh... Yeah," I nodded, rubbing my head. "Just... I... Never saw someone get their head blown off before."

You know they actually do a pretty decent job depicting that on TV shows and movies. It was sad and disturbing that I was comparing what just happened to that, but... Maybe that was my way of coping.

"I'm sorry," He sighed. "But if it's any consolation... He wasn't human anymore, he was a monster."

Yeah that didn't really make me feel much better. Because even if he was a "monster" and was infected with that virus, but for his fucked up eyes he still looked like a normal guy. So, all I saw just now was Cas blowing some random guys head off.

"Yeah," I nodded, swallowing back vomit. "Yeah... I... I know, he... He wasn't normal. It's okay. I'm okay."

But he didn't believe that for a second, and how could he? I was babbling like an idiot, jittery and jumpy like a scared rabbit and clearly traumatized to the point I couldn't function.

Well, I had said that I was going to need to be traumatized in order to be like them... So, when was that going to happen? When was I suddenly going to morph into a bad ass that wasn't scared of anything? Anytime now... It could fucking happen anytime now!

I should have known that it wasn't like frickin' TV shows. That just because I witnessed something like that, I wasn't going to suddenly turn into a ninja assassin that could kick everybody's ass. Normal people, when they see something traumatic respond _normally_. They might cry, or they might shake a little. Some might even want to pee their pants like I did right then.

"Alice," Cas inched closer, taking a chance by reaching over and latching onto my hand. "We need to leave."

Feeling him grab my hand jolted me back to reality as I suddenly jerked my hand free.

"Sorry, yeah... I know. Let's go." I babbled.

I moved past him and around the dead body, not passing it another glance as I started back towards the house. Cas followed after me, closing the shed door behind him, and once we entered the backdoor again and eventually made it to the living room; I guess the look on my face was enough to tell Dean that something had happened.

"What?" He asked, dropping a duffel stuffed full of blankets to the floor. "What's with that look?"

"There was an incident in the shed," Cas answered. "But I handled it, so it's fine."

"What kinda incident?" Dean moved his attention me. "You okay?"

"Fine." I nodded. "Perfect."

"There was an infected in the shed, had Alice cornered, but I disposed of him." Cas went on. "And, because of that I think we should leave the area as soon as possible, because there's no way of knowing if there's other infected here, Dean."

"Dammit," Dean replied, then grabbed several of the bags. "Grab as much as you can, Sam and Jody are next door."

I went right to the plastic tub full of pasta and scooped it up, lugging it out the front door and to the back of the jeep. Cas stuck to me like glue, following my every footstep, his eyes all over the place as he watched for more scary freaks. Not long after Sam and Jody jogged their way out from the dump of a house next door, and we loaded up everything else we had looted and then were back on the road.

With one infected person in the general vicinity, Dean deemed it too dangerous to attempt to search through the rest of the houses. So... That was it. There was nothing else to do but leave Lebanon behind for good. Our first destination was the dairy farm, because apparently their friends were going to try and meet us there, and if they didn't show then that's when we would make the trip to Sioux Falls.

I tried not to watch what was left of the town grow smaller and smaller in the background. Instead, I kept my eyes straight ahead on the charred burnt landscape. The roads were littered with broken down vehicles, some laying in the ditch or had crashed into telephone poles. It was a mess. The entire world was just one giant mess now. And an hour later, an hour and eighty miles away from Lebanon later, the scenery wasn't getting any better.

Cas was silent as he drove, and I didn't say anything either. I wasn't much for conversation on normal _not apocalyptic _days, but now... Well, it was even worse.

After that first hour though he started to pass me quick glances every now and then, but I tried to pretend I didn't notice and kept my head rested on my hand as I stared out at the baron landscape.

"I always believed that I was the master of silence." He said, cutting through the quiet like a knife. "I'm starting to think that I might have competition now."

Swallowing hard, I cleared my throat. "I guess I just don't have anything to say, sorry."

"It's all right. I understand... All of this... What's happened and what's become of the world... It's going to take quite a while to adjust to." He shrugged. "_If _adjusting is even possible." When yet again I said nothing he passed me another quick glance. "Just so you know, if you ever need to speak with someone, or... If all of this becomes too much for you to tolerate, I'm here to listen."

"Thanks, Cas." I replied dully. "But I'll be fine."

He nodded, following the jeep in front of us to the exact. "It's just... I've noticed what things like this can do to a person that's not accustomed to it. Being a hunter, you're taught since childhood how to handle yourself when it comes to things that aren't natural. And myself, well... I was an angel, so I've dealt with unusual situations for thousands of years."

I barely flicked my eyes to him before sinking down lower in my seat. "So you think that since I was kinda normal before all of this that I'm, what... Gonna have an emotional breakdown or something?"

Sighing at that, he didn't deny my question right off. "Not exactly. But I know that you're trying to convey a nonchalant attitude, trying to pretend that what's happened this last month, and earlier today as a matter of fact, aren't affecting you. And, maybe I don't know you very well, but I do know that holding things like that in isn't healthy and eventually it will wear you down."

I tried to tell myself not to get angry at him, he was only trying to help. But... In situations like this my defenses automatically went up.

"So, what do you want me to say then, huh?" I replied, my tone flippant. "That, uh... Oh I don't know, knowing that Satan's real and he's wandering around up here is freaking me out to the point that I can't even sleep at night? Or... That watching you blow that guys head off today scared the hell out of me? You want me to admit all that?" He said nothing. "Or, that even before all of this shit happened in the world that my life was a steaming pile of crap already, so really... There's not much difference about it right now except that most of humanity's dead." Still he said nothing. "Sorry, I... I'm sorry, I know you're just trying to help me, Cas. I don't mean to be a bitch, I really don't. It's just... Easier that way."

"Easier because then you don't have to let anyone in," He replied. "I understand what you're doing." Now he eyed me as well as he could before returning his attention to the road. "Why was your life before all of this so bad, Alice?"

Yet again I slumped down lower in my seat. "That doesn't matter anymore. It's all over and done with."

"Apparently it isn't. But, I suppose it's none of my business. Just know my offer still stands. If you ever need someone to talk to, then I'm here."

I said nothing more and returned my attention outside and the never ending stretch of nothing but smoke and death.


	4. Chapter 4

We drove for hours without stopping, unless of course there was some vehicle on the road that wasn't burnt out that we wanted to loot. There was a couple delivery trucks we passed, two of which were refrigerated so the contents inside were obviously spoiled and rank. The third truck though had already been ripped apart by what looked like animals, but there were a few unopened and undamaged packages of ding dongs and microwavable pie. Not that we'd be doing much microwaving, but Dean was happy about the pie anyhow.

Looting broken down cars though... Not gonna lie, that was pretty rough. Especially since most of them still had burnt and decaying bodies inside. You felt guilty, of course, that you were benefiting from their deaths, but... You couldn't let yourself think about those kinds of things anymore. It wouldn't do anything but bring you down more, and no matter how you did it, you had to survive. So, if that meant stealing from the dead, and literally pulling useful items off their corpses, well... It just had to be done.

The one thing I was thankful for though was that I didn't come across any kids in the cars. I don't know how I didn't, but there weren't any thank god. I don't think I would have been able to handle that. Stealing from the dead was bad enough, but little kids? No... I couldn't.

But, we had driven all night and most of the morning away in the journey to the supposed dairy farm. And, I was happy to see that not every square inch of land was burnt and destroyed. A few hundred miles outside of Lebanon it started to clear up some, at least enough that you could still see grass and some forms of foliage on the trees. Any houses or buildings we passed though were completely leveled, as if someone just swooped on past dropping bombs on everything. The blasts somehow must have targeted structures, the devil and his minions were dead set on destroying everything that humanity had a hand in creating. That's why Lebanon and any other little town or city we passed were worse off then the open stretches of land. It was like a dozen or more nukes went off in them, making certain that everyone and everything was slaughtered.

"Fifteen miles," Sam said, smoothing out the map on the hood of the jeep. "Just fifteen more miles to go."

Dean leaned over, struggling to see the map in the foggy morning light. "Okay, seeing is that everything around here is leveled to the ground, I'm not gonna be surprised to see that the farm might be gone."

"And if it is?" Jody replied.

"We crash in the jeeps tonight, take off again tomorrow, only for Sioux Falls this time."

"Which is another twelve hour drive, if the roads are partially clear anyways," Sam added. "So, make sure you've searched the cars here really well, we're gonna need water bottles for the trip."

Since the incident in the storage shed I had been avoiding Cas as much as I was able when we weren't stuck in the jeep together. He wanted to talk about it, to make sure that I wasn't going to have a nervous breakdown; and I was content with pretending the entire thing never happened. Live in happy ignorance, that was my plan. To pretend it was just a bad dream, that Cas really didn't blow some monsters head off right in front of me. That was much easier than facing reality.

So, I followed Jody this time and decided to stick with her as we searched through the remainder of the vehicles. There was a minivan a few cars up the road that was in remarkably good shape, and we both made a beeline for it first.

Jody was carrying an old hose and a half empty gas can, and we had been siphoning fuel from the vehicles that hadn't completely exploded. Any little bit was good, and something told me that minivan was gonna be a fuel goldmine. Once she got started on that, I went to opening the sliding doors and peaking inside.

"It's empty." I said, arching a brow. "Guess the owners made a run for it."

"No one in the drivers seat either?" Jody replied.

I moved to the front door and pulled it open. "Well, no... But..."

"But what?"

I swallowed at glancing down to the floor and noticing a pair of boots there, along with a lot of blood. The right boot was still sitting on the gas pedal, like whomever was sitting there driving was literally yanked out of the car and right out of their shoes.

"Nothing." I shook that off. "No one's up here either."

I started picking through the garbage on the seats, sifting through old fast food bags and napkins, torn magazines and just random crap. There was an sealed bottle of coke, which I quickly stuffed in the loot bag, and some travel snacks that had expired a month ago. I still stuffed those too in the loot bag, because we wanted everything that wasn't growing mold or completely rotten.

Moving to the passenger side now I popped open the glove box and sifted through the usual crap you might find there, like insurance and registration papers. Why I bothered to glance at those... I have no idea.

"Albert McKinney." I muttered to myself after reading the name on the registrations papers. "Sorry, guy."

I tossed those aside now and dug around some more, feeling my hand graze across something cold and metal. When I yanked it free from beneath the piles of papers my face fell flat at seeing a gun... A revolver, I think... But I could be wrong because I didn't know much about weapons yet. Still, I knew enough to check to see if it was loaded, which it was, so I quickly unloaded it and put the rounds in my jacket pocket and the gun in the loot bag. Dean was probably going to be happy to see that gun and ammo.

Last but not least in the glove box was a bottle of aspirin, which would come in handy. And, the back seats of the van proved to not be at all helpful except for a blanket wadded up inside a storage area of the floor.

But, I was right about the van being full of fuel. Jody had to end up going and grabbing another gas can because she'd filled the other up.

"Not bad." She said. "Better than nothing anyways right, hon?"

"Yeah I suppose so." I replied, struggling to stuff the blanket in the loot bag.

"So... How're you holding up?" She asked now.

Ugh... Why did everyone have to keep asking me that?

"Fine." I answered, and quite bitterly too.

"Ha... Right," She rolled her eyes. "Believe me, sweetie; I know you're not fine. None of us are _fine_."

"Then why bother to ask me that?"

She smiled, raising her dark brows and averting her attention to the destruction around us. "Because we have to look out for one another. Our little dysfunctional group... That's all we have left, so... You're just gonna have to deal with me picking and prying into your business, got it?"

I managed a small smile in return. "Yeah, okay. I guess I can deal with that."

She grabbed the gas filled can and motioned me to follow. The boys were off searching their own vehicles, Sam and Dean sticking close together while Cas was wandering near a tipped over semi trailer.

"They're good boys." She said, when she noticed me looking at them. "All of them. Even Dean. I know he can be gruff and kind of a horses ass sometimes, but... He's really a teddy bear."

"A teddy bear, huh?" I snickered. "Somehow, I don't think he'd appreciate that."

"Who cares," She winked at me. "He knows I'll kick his butt if I have to."

"So," I was surprised I was actually attempting a conversation. "How did you meet them anyways?"

Her smirk faded after that, and she swallowed back what looked to be something entirely different then what came out.

"A job. A job in my old home town. Zombies. That's how I met them."

"Zombies?" My face fell blank. "Jesus... What doesn't exist in the world?"

"As far as Cas goes," She ignored that question. "I only met him a few months back, once all of this crap started with Lucifer. We all started working together in trying to find a way to stop him. So... I haven't known Cas very long."

I nodded. "Gotcha."

"But, I could tell from the beginning, he's a good guy. Just like Sam and Dean are."

"Guy, aka angel, right?"

"Sometimes that's easy to forget, since we can't see the wings and halo."

We both came to a stop next to a partially burned SUV and for some odd reason kept our attentions fixed on Cas. He was oblivious to our staring really, as he picked around debris laying on the interstate.

"Sam told me that Cas went through a pretty hard time after the blasts started," Jody said. "Said that... That a young girl he felt he was responsible for took off on him, disappeared, and he couldn't find her in time to bring her back to the bunker." She sighed at that. "Would be nice to think she survived, but... I don't see how that could've happened."

I frowned up at her. "Young girl? Like a kid?"

"Yeah, a teenager. Probably seventeen or so."

"Who was she?"

She motioned nonchalantly to Cas who stooped over and fiddled with his loot bag. "Well, you know he's in a vessel, right?"

"Yeah, he said something about that before."

"Well, the man who agreed to be his vessel, he had a wife and daughter. And, after he was killed and it was only Cas in there, he felt guilty for what happened and found the daughter. He was gonna look after her and take care of her from there on out, but she was a pretty troubled kid after everything that happened, and Cas is... He's not exactly father material I guess, so he didn't know what to do exactly. She ran away a couple months after he tracked her down."

Damn... Poor Cas. I had no idea that something like that had happened.

"I think," Jody went on. "That's why he's taken such an interest in you, Alice."

"Huh? I'm not a kid? I turned twenty seven two weeks ago."

"I know, and he doesn't see you as a kid either, but I think that he feels like if he helps you out and takes an interest in you, then it'll somehow make up for what happened to Claire." She shrugged. "Yeah I might not have known him very long, but I can tell that's the kinda guy he is. He wants to help people, so..."

Well that made me feel like a major butt boil for being so rude and snippy with him in the jeep when he was trying to talk to me. I knew already that he was nice and all, but now that I knew he had an almost kid who took off and was probably dead... Yeah, like I said... Butt boil.

"And Sam just told you all of this for no good reason at all?" I replied.

"I asked, because it's hard not to notice that sad look in Cas' eyes."

She ended that conversation by searching through the vehicle, and I could only stand there with a permanent frown etched across my features.

From there on out I told myself I was going to go easier on Cas.

"Oh," Jody then stood. "And if it was your birthday two weeks ago, why the hell didn't you say anything?"

I snorted at that, moving to the trunk of that particular car that was hanging open. "Why would I? It's not like anyone's in the mood to celebrate."

"Oh c'mon," She grinned. "I'll bake you a nice triple decker cake, we'll have ice cream and beer."

"Ughh," I groaned. "Shut up with that. Now I'm starving."

We both chuckled and went back to searching, coming up with a big steaming hunk of nothing before moving back to the jeeps.

"Everyone ready?" Dean asked.

"Yes," Cas answered. "There wasn't much worth taking here."

"Ditto," I replied. "Found a bottle of aspirin, and... Oh-" I stopped and reached into the loot bag, pulling out the revolver and the ammo from my pocket. "This was in the minivan."

I sat them on the hood of the jeep and Dean snickered. "Hell yes."

"Nice," Sam added. "That's gonna be a rare find from here on out, I think."

Dean took the liberty of snatching the gun up and loading it with the ammo before stuffing it in the back of his jeans. "Let's hit the road. Fifteen miles to go, and maybe we'll have a thick juicy steak tonight."

"Oh jeez," I groaned. "You're actually gonna kill a cow if there's one still alive?"

"What?" Dean shrugged. "You a vegetarian or something?"

I only rolled my eyes and followed Cas back to our jeep, since apparently I was still riding shot gun with him.

We started off a few minutes later, yet again weaving in and around the burnt out cars.

The fifteen mile drive was gonna take longer than usual, of course, because of the crowded roads and having to bypass every now and then across fields. So, I settled in for it, watching the landscape go by slowly as Cas kept his eyes on the road.

"So," I said, clearing my throat. "Maybe you were right."

"Excuse me?" He snapped his eyes to me quickly. "I was right about what?"

"You know," I fidgeted awkwardly in my seat. "About needing to talk about what happened in that shed."

"Oh," He nodded. "Well all right then. What would you like to say, or... How can I help?"

Really I did _not_ want to talk about this. Like I said, living in happy ignorance, right? But... I wasn't doing this for me so much, but for him.

"Well," I sighed. "I dunno. I can't really explain it. It's just... When that thing suddenly appeared there in the shed... I froze. I froze and couldn't frickin' move and just stood there staring at it like a deer caught in the headlights. I couldn't even fucking breathe, Cas. And I knew, ya know... I knew that guy wasn't normal, there was something wrong with him... That he was probably gonna kill me and still, I couldn't move." He said nothing, and it seemed that everything just rolled its way out and wouldn't stop once I opened my mouth. "And, I know that I'm not cut out for this, I'm not. I'm not a hunter, I'm not an angel, I'm just some stupid girl that's gonna fuck up somehow and end up getting everyone hurt. And, I keep thinking. What would've been worse? Dying instantaneously during all the blasts, or surviving and then eventually getting ripped apart by some croat... Cause dying from the blasts would be a helluva lot quicker and less painful."

When I stopped I tried to catch my breath, and also not burst out sobbing like a big baby. Cas however, he only sat there silently still with his eyes on the road for several long seconds before letting out a sigh.

"So, you're saying you would have rather died during the blasts, than survived like you did?" He questioned.

"I don't know," I sank down lower in my seat, rubbing my temples. "Maybe it sounds melodramatic of me, but..."

"But nothing," He interrupted. "You might not realize it yet, Alice, but you need to cherish your life, no matter how bad it might seem right now. Because, there's hundreds, no, _millions _of others that weren't as fortunate as you. Life is much too precious to dismiss so easily. Even if the world right now is dead." His posture stiffened in his seat. "I don't mean to sound harsh or cross, because believe me, I understand what you're feeling. I understand you're afraid, but you're still here; and personally I'm thankful for that because I do consider you a friend."

"Wait a while," I replied, passing him a sarcastic smile. "You'll grow to hate me."

Somehow he smiled faintly too. "Well, I doubt that. But, anyhow... When you said you're not cut out for something like this... I think we all feel like that. Yes, we might have more experience with the supernatural world than you do, but believe me... None of us were prepared for the apocalypse. So, I suppose we're all in this together, no one's going to be alone."

I hated to think that I actually felt better after spitting all that out. Cas was right, I did need to talk I guess... Maybe that would become a regular thing or something? I know I had never been able to talk out my issues in the past, it might have been nice to be able to do that now.

"So," I sat up again. "Now your turn."

"My turn?" He replied.

"Yep, your turn to talk out whatever might be bothering you."

I watched the confusion spread across his face. "I never claimed that there was something bothering me, Alice."

"Doesn't mean that there isn't. So, it goes both ways. You want me to talk about my issues, you're gonna have to talk about yours too. Cause ya know... Something tells me that with being an angel, you don't get a lot of opportunities to let people help you."

He was momentarily surprised at that I think, at least to the point he'd gone speechless for almost an entire minute.

"Well, I... I'm really all right, Alice. But thank you for asking." He finally said.

"You sure about that?" I returned, glaring at him.

He nodded, and it was obvious to me now that the guy couldn't lie for shit. "Yes, I'm sure. There's nothing I need to talk about."

"Okay, well... If you ever change your mind, or think of something, here I am. Doesn't seem like I'm going anywhere."

If what Jody said was true, and Cas really was upset and having a hard time from that girl Claire disappearing and dying, then something told me that an angel trying to hold everything in was a helluva lot worse than a human doing it. He might explode or something. Well, not literally explode, but it might seriously do some damage to his head. Or maybe I was totally wrong, and Cas would be fine, because he's an angel and they obviously aren't built like people are.

* * *

><p>I didn't know whether to dance a jig of glee or be freaked out.<p>

The dairy farm, it was still standing for the most part. Meaning, the house was still in one piece, the barn was basically just four walls and no roof, but that didn't really matter, and the fields around the property where the fences weren't knocked down still had one or two cows grazing around in the grass.

Basically, it was a lot better than any of us figured it would be. But, with it being in such decent shape, with their being a few cows out there, there very well might have been other survivors holed up inside that house.

We couldn't tell from the distance we stood at, on the hill overlooking the property down below. So Dean and Sam had decided to hike down silently, hiding in the bushes and trees so they could scope out the area. So far, from where Jody, Cas and I were standing, we hadn't spotted the boys just yet.

"How long's it been?" I asked, shuddering from the unsettling feeling in the pit of my stomach.

"Fifteen minutes." Cas answered.

"Shouldn't we have seen or heard something by now?" Jody added.

"Depends," Cas inched his way closer to the edge of the hill and squinted down at the farm house. "On if there were any dangers for them along the way."

"That's comforting." I sighed, then took a few steps back towards the jeeps.

I stared up at the sky, and the constant discolored overcast that didn't seem to be fading anytime soon. Still, past that I could see the sun that was continuously trying to burst through. Past the overcast and the constant strange smell lingering over the air, there was just an unsettling chill that didn't seem to want to let up despite it was supposed to be the middle of summer. The fog too, yeah that was pretty creepy, the way it would roll up without a moments notice and smother everything out. Which, is what was happening now and it eventually made seeing down the hillside to the farmhouse impossible.

"Dammit." Cas cursed, moving back to the jeep and rifling through his side before pulling out his pistol. "I think we should go down there now. We can't exactly stand watch if we can't see anything."

"Right." Jody nodded, darting back for their jeep and grabbing her gear too.

"Alice," Cas said, directing his attention to me. "You're in the middle, stay behind me."

Guess that meant Jody was pulling up the rear, which was still telling me that he didn't trust me to handle any dangerous situations that might arise. Which, I couldn't argue with, because I had just told him that I was flipping out from watching him blow that monsters head off.

So I only nodded and followed his lead as we left the jeeps behind and started down the hill. We stayed clear of the drive that led to the house, and instead walked through the trees and brush just like Dean and Sam had. It was safer that way, obviously, just in case there was someone in the house that might have responded violently.

Once we reached the bottom and came to a stop, we tried to overlook the large yard in front of us but the fog made it impossible. Not only that, but it somehow had the ability of muting out all sound. There wasn't so much as a bug chirping in the grass, nothing but complete and dead silence which was more than unnerving. It sent a shiver down my spine as a matter of fact.

Cas' eyes were darting every which way, trying to spot something that told him Sam and Dean were close. And I figured we'd at least hear them, since everything else was so dead silent then their footsteps or voices should have carried over in our direction, but... Nope. Nothing. Nothing at all.

"We should separate." Jody said. "Me and Alice can go one way, you go the other."

Cas shook his head. "I don't think that's a very good idea."

"We'll be fine," Jody continued. "We can watch each others backs, and if we happen to run into trouble we'll start yelling and you can come running."

"Yeah," I chimed in. "We'll be okay, Cas. This is a big piece of property, Sam and Dean could be in trouble somewhere, so..."

"All right, fine," He sighed. "Stay close together though and keep your eyes open. There's no way of knowing what might be out there."

He disappeared through the fog shortly after that, and Jody and I went off in the other direction and to what I was assuming was the house. Eventually a structure started to cut through the fog, and I realized we were actually near the barn and what looked to be a long shed like building that had an old rusted tractor parked out front.

The grass and weeds were practically knee high, and unfortunately there wasn't a way for us to mask our footsteps as we cracked and crunched across leaves and sticks.

"Nothin' yet," Jody said, stopping in between the barn and the shed. "Really, where'd those boys disappear to?"

"Good question." I replied. "But you know them better than I do. Is this something that they do often?"

"Oh please," She snickered, starting off again towards the shed. "Those boys are constantly getting into trouble, I've even had to save their asses a couple times in the past."

"Really?"

"Yeah, but they'll never admit that. Guess it comes with the hunter job, they gotta uphold their reputation or something." Pausing, she held her hand up. "Okay, I doubt they're in that shed, but we still need to look.

Oh great, more sheds...

We slithered closer to the halfway open door, as she held her pistol up and at the ready when we both heard what sounded like a shatter of glass coming from behind us. It was the barn in the distance, and but for that shatter of glass there was nothing else but silence.

Didn't matter though, because Jody took off at a quick jog across the way as I followed behind her, only to slow down and slink down lower as we neared the barn. Past a pile of rancid smelling hay was a window, which we moved to and carefully took a peak inside.

At first I didn't see much but rusted out farm tools and old wooden crates, but past all that crap I noticed movement that nearly made me wet myself.

It was safe to assume it was going to be Sam or Dean, maybe even Cas, but it wasn't... It was someone I didn't recognize. Some straggly looking mountain man with a long beard, tattered looking coat and jeans and in his hand he was carrying a machete. He was pacing back and forth like a crazy person, waving his arms in the air and mumbling to himself. Jody and I both leaned to the left more, trying to see past him and I think I was the one to spot an unconscious Dean laying on the barn floor first.

I held back a gasp, then pointed to what I was looking at and watched Jody's face fall flat.

Dean had a bloody gash on his forehead and didn't seem to be waking up anytime soon. Past him and tied to a post was Sam who was watching the crazy guy in front of him with his eyes wide.

No sooner had we spotted the three of them did another person emerge from the shadows. Another man, one that seemed just as straggly and psycho as the machete guy.

"What'd we do with em, Carl?" Machete guy asked.

"They trespassin'," Second guy, who was carrying an axe replied. "We found this place first. We called first dibs. It's ours!"

"Look," Sam said, shaking his head. "We didn't come here to steal anything away from you guys. We were just looking for our friends, and thought they might have been holed up here."

"Right." Axe man sneered. "Yeah you comin' here all armed with guns 'n knives and expect us to believe that?"

Jody nudged me, then pointed to the opposite side of the barn where I could see a door. She then motioned for me to go around that way and to be quiet while I was at it. We had to be quick though, because something told me these crazy backwoodsman were going to start peeling off Sam and Dean's faces and eating them. They might not have been infected with the croatoan virus, but they were still just as dangerous, and they looked the cannibal types.

I did as she said and moved quietly around the barn and to the side door, and already I had my pistol out of my jacket and at my side.

Before entering the barn I did as Dean told me to do and made sure my silencer was screwed on properly and that my ammo clip was full. But, of course it was, because it's not like I had shot anyone with it lately, so there was nothing stopping me from slipping inside.

Right about then would have been a good time for Cas to show up, but who the hell knows where he wandered off to and if he heard that glass shattering like Jody and I had.

Once I was inside the back area of the barn, I ducked down and practically crawled down behind bails of hay and farm machinery before coming to a stop. I wasn't sure what I was waiting for, what Jody planned on doing, but got the answer to that question when I heard a tapping sound at the front barn doors.

"What was that?" Axe man said. "Go check it out, Roy."

Roy, apparently, did as he said and moved over with his machete in the air and kicked the double doors open and out of no where Jody appeared and popped off one round that hit his forehead dead center. He dropped down dead without so much as a gurgle after that.

Now I jumped up, didn't even think twice about what I was doing, before firing myself and hit the man with the axe twice in the back. When he fell to the ground dead too, for a second I couldn't help but wonder if this was actually real life. It seemed way too crazy to be real.

"Untie me!" Sam shrieked, and Jody rushed up and started to cut through his ropes.

I snapped out of it long enough to move to Dean and crouch down beside him.

"Dean?" I said, shaking him lightly. "Please tell me you're not dead."

Sam rushed over now too and grabbed Dean by the shoulder. "Come on, Dean. Snap out of it. Wake up."

Dean started to groan, before his eyes slid open and he groaned some more. "Ugh, damn... Wha'appened?" He slurred.

"You got hit in the head." Sam replied. "Remember, those crazy hillbillies jumping out at us?"

"Oh... Right." Dean rubbed his head, wiping the blood away with the back of his sleeve.

"Well at least we got them both." Jody said.

"No, you didn't." Sam corrected, helping Dean to his feet. "There's one more. A woman, she's in the house and just as bat shit nuts as these two guys."

"That's probably where Cas is then." I said, and I was more than surprised that I wasn't freaking out more than I was. "Let's go get him."

"Wait wait wait." Dean said, latching on to my wrist. "Just wait a fucking second, Annie Oakley, you're not running in there guns blazing. Cas can handle that crazy bitch."

Yeah, it was hard to remember sometimes that Cas wasn't human and was an almost immortal angel with immaculate powers. I guess something like a crazy hick woman wouldn't be anything for Cas to handle. He'd just have to snap his fingers and she would probably drop dead.

Still, we left the barn anyhow with Sam and Dean leading the way as we made our way through the fog that was finally beginning to clear and to the house in the distance. Just as we reached the front porch steps Cas came out the front door and the front of his shirt was splattered in blood.

"Get her?" Dean asked.

"You could say that." Cas answered, and for once he looked pretty pissed off. "Do you know what they were doing in there? What that woman had stored in the basement?"

"We have a pretty good idea, yeah-" Sam answered. "We saw their, uh... Butcher shop in the shed."

"Butcher... Shop?" I murmured.

"It seemed as though these people were gathering corpses from the interstate, bringing them back here and then... Using them as a food source." Cas continued.

"Oh my god," Jody grimaced. "What the hell is wrong with people?"

"Humans, man-" Dean shook his head. "I always said that demons I get, but people are crazy."

I choked back vomit and halfway wished I'd plugged that guy in the barn a few more times before he died. It figures... The only other survivors we had come across since the world exploded, and they actually _were _crazy face eating cannibals.

"So, the basement then... There's bodies in it?" I asked now.

"What's left of bodies, yes. They've all been carved up. There's mainly just arms and legs, and a few torsos." Cas moved down the steps. "I wouldn't advise we sleep in the house... Unless something like that wouldn't bother all of you."

"We can clear out the basement." Sam replied. "Unfortunately we can't be choosy with where we sleep, and I know I'd feel more comfortable with a roof and four walls surrounding us."

"Same here." Dean replied. "What about you two?" He directed his attention to Jody and I. "It gonna bother you to crash here a couple days?"

"Shouldn't," Jody answered first. "Alice? What about you?"

"I'll be fine." I replied, catching Cas giving me that knowing look again.

"Okay," Dean grumbled his way up the stairs. "Let's get this place cleaned up then."

Oh god... I had a feeling I was going to be puking by the end of the day.


End file.
